The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 5 January 2005

Cane sex offenders, panel told

JOHOR BARU: The cane should be used on sex offenders
even though they are in their 50s.

By the same token, snatch thieves should also be caned to
deter them from committing the crime again.

These are some of the "popular" proposals given by
the people to the Parliament Select Committee which is drafting
the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill and Penal Code
(Amendment) Bill.

Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said those
who suggested that the cane be used on sex offenders aged above
50 argued that if the person could commit the crime then there
should not be any sympathy for him.

"Such a punishment can act as a deterrent to
others.

"We received the same views from those who suggested the
same punishment for snatch thieves," he said after a public
hearing conducted by the committee at the Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim
here yesterday.

The committee had organised the hearings in the northern
states and Sabah and Sarawak before coming to Johor.

Its next stop will be Malacca tomorrow and Seremban the
following day. The hearings will be held at the state assembly
buildings.

Mohd Radzi, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department, said other proposed amendments to the CPC and Penal
Code were for the police to obtain approval from the
Attorney-General's Chambers to tap private telephone lines
of terror suspects.

There was also a proposal to reprimand police personnel who
took a long time to complete investigations.

"We want the NGOs and members of the public to attend the
hearings and tell us what they think about the proposals.

"Everyone is also welcomed to give suggestions because
such a hearing is not common," he said, adding that the last
time the CPC and Penal Code were amended was over 20 years ago.

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 12 January 2005

Youth gets five years' jail and five strokes of rotan for robbing and hurting aunt

By P. Sharmini

SEREMBAN, Wed: A 26-year old unemployed youth was
sentenced to five years' jail and be given five strokes of
the rotan by the Sessions Court today after he pleaded guilty to
voluntarily causing hurt while robbing his aunt last month.

Shahrul Anuar Pakharuddin, from Batu 13½, Bota Kiri, Bota,
Perak, was charged with another person still at large, with
robbing Junidah Saad, 52, of a gold chain and bracelet worth
RM1,500 at an unnumbered house at Batu 17, Ulu Klawang, Jelebu
and voluntarily injuring her. The incident occurred on Dec 23 at
6.30am.

The offence, under Sections 394 and 34 of the Penal Code, is
punishable with a jail term, which may extend to 20 years, and
fine or whipping.

The accused had pleaded guilty to the offence when charged last
Thursday.

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 12 January 2005

Rapist dad gets 54 years' jail and 24 strokes of rotan

KUANTAN: An ex-security guard was jailed a total of 54
years and ordered to be given 24 strokes of the rotan by the
Sessions Court here yesterday for raping his three daughters when
they were aged six, eight and nine.

The 47-year-old man was found guilty of committing the
offences at a house in Pekan between 1994 and 2002.

Sessions Judge Mohamad K. Abdul Rahman sentenced the man to 18
years' jail and eight strokes of the rotan for each charge and
ordered them to be served consecutively.

The first offence was committed on his eldest daughter from
1994 until 1998 when she was six to 10 while the second offence
was committed on the other daughter between 1996 and 1999 when
she was six to nine.

He also raped his third daughter between 2000 and May 3, 2002
when she was six to eight.

Before passing sentence, Mohamad said he was astonished that
there were people like the accused who could do such a heinous
thing.

"It still happens although the courts have been handing
down heavy penalties to those who had committed incest.

"I agree with the prosecution who submitted that a father
should be a protector to the children and one who does not take
advantage of his young ones," he added.

The court had no other choice but to impose the most severe
penalty as a deterrent sentence, he said.

Mohamad also ruled out the accused's contention that his wife
had conspired to make him a victim and that he could not have
committed the offences as he was hardly home.

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 12 January 2005

Thief jailed 10 years

By Hamdan Raja Abdullah

MUAR: A 30-year-old man who was nabbed by passers-by
after a failed attempt to grab a bagful of money totalling
RM30,000 from a fast-food restaurant manager here last month has
been sentenced to 10 years' jail.

Judge Mohd Fauzi Mohd Nasir also ordered K. Puspanathan to be
given nine strokes of the cane for hurting and trying to rob Siti
Noranaliza Karman, who worked at the Kentucky Fried Chicken
outlet in Jalan Arab here at 11.30am on Dec 20.

OFF TO JAIL: Puspanathan being led out
of the Sessions Court in Muar by police after he was
sentenced Tuesday.

Puspanathan pleaded guilty to committing the offence with
another man, who is still at large, at Jalan Sulaiman not far
from the fast-food outlet.

In mitigation, Puspanathan, who was not represented, asked the
court for a lenient sentence, saying that he had pleaded guilty
to the charges and that the plea had saved the court's
time.

However, prosecuting officer Asst Supt Lim Ah Bah asked the
court to pass an appropriate sentence against Puspanathan who had
committed a serious offence and also had other criminal
records.

Earlier, Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital medical officer
Dr Mohd Sharif Abdul Wahab told the court that he had examined
Siti Noranaliza's injuries when she was brought to the
hospital at about 1.30pm on Dec 20.

He said the examinations showed her left hand was broken and
she had difficulty moving the hand, which was treated through a
minor surgery.

Siti Noranaliza was seven months' pregnant at the time of the
incident.

Malaysiakini.com, 26 January 2005

Aids threat via prison caning

Recently, I was shocked to be informed that prisoners in
Malaysian jails are caned with the same bloody cane that is
already soaked with blood from the caning of the previous
prisoner.

Although the prison doctor has checked and certified that these
to be caned prisoners are fit, there needs to be specific blood
tests to rule out blood borne diseases such as HIV, hepatitis
etc.

But even if this tests are done, it should be remembered that
there is a window period of about three months for false negative
results even though the person is already infected with HIV.

This gives rise to the very serious and dangerous possibility of
infectious diseases, including HIV, being spread because of
contaminated canes. It must be remembered that caned prisoners,
sooner or later, rejoin society.

Don't think about wiping the canes clean, using
disinfectants or sterilisation as all of these methods
have been proven to be ineffective. The authorities must use
disposable canes which should be discarded after use on a single
prisoner.

These canes must be disposed the same way clinics and hospitals
dispose of used needles which means incineration by authorised
waste disposers. Clinics can be fined up to RM5,000 if they fail
to engage these authorised waste disposers. The prisons'
cane usage and disposal must also be subject to the same laws.

Another serious repercussion is the possibility of legal suits
from prisoners who claim that they have been infected with HIV
through caning procedures in prison. This could lead to the
government paying out huge sums in compensation as such a claim
would be very difficult to counter.

There is only one foolproof way to prevent this - stop canning [sic].
If we don't, there will be consequences to suffer. Let's not
wait for the consequences.

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 26 January 2005

Court quashes death sentence

By Chelsea L.Y. Ng

PUTRAJAYA: A lorry driver, who was arrested during
surveillance for drug trafficking, escaped the death sentence
because police pounced on him before the drug deal was
completed.

The appellate court allowed Ahmad Sabri Md Isa's appeal
yesterday and quashed his conviction. The Bench, however,
substituted the sentence with 20 years' jail and 10 rotan
strokes for possession of 958g of cannabis.

"The police are to be blamed for not waiting. If they had
waited 15 minutes more, it would have been a different
story.

"Instead, they acted when the drug was still on the
appellant's lap and had yet to be handed over to the
police's agent provocateur," said Justice Mokhtar
Sidin, who sat with Justices Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Tengku
Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud.

On Jan 11, 2003, Ahmad Sabri was found guilty by the Ipoh High
Court on a charge of trafficking in cannabis outside a building
in Taman Kledang in Silibin, Ipoh, on Jan 27, 1999.

Evidence showed Ahmad Sabri had had several negotiations with
the agent provocateur before they finally met outside the
building that night.

In the trial, witnesses also testified that a motorcyclist
rode past the agent provocateur's car and threw the package
of drug onto Ahmad Sabri's lap while he was sitting in the
front passenger seat.

Although the Bench meted out the maximum sentence for a charge
of drug possession, they still considered the father of two
"lucky" to have escaped the gallows.

"If the arrest had been delayed a short while, you would
still probably be on death row," said Justice Mokhtar
Sidin.

"However, we still view drug-related offences very
seriously because it has become a big menace in Malaysia. There
are simply too many drug addicts. This is a social disease that
brings about other illnesses such as robbery, thefts and snatch
thefts."

In mitigation yesterday, Ahmad Sabri's counsel Naran
Singh asked the court to impose a jail sentence from the date of
his client's arrest on Nov 27, 1999.

DPP Wong Chiang Kiat pressed for a deterrent sentence, saying
that the amount involved was huge.

"The sentence should reflect the severity of the offence.
Society should be shown that drug trafficking is not a profitable
venture," said Wong.